AIR FORCE STILL ISN'T PLAYING FAIR, SIKORSKY SAYS

The Air Force violated federal law by ignoring the cost benefits of Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.'s HH-92 search-and-rescue helicopter during a contract dispute, Sikorsky said in a document released Friday.

The document also proposed that the Air Force restart the bidding process for the new helicopter and reimburse Sikorsky for expenses incurred in the first round of bidding and two subsequent protests over the outcome.

A Sikorsky spokesman said he could not disclose the amount of the expenses.

In November, the Air Force awarded The Boeing Co. an initial contract for the helicopter program, which could be worth more than $15 billion.

The GAO sided with them, finding that the Air Force had not consistently calculated the cost of the entries.

Dissatisfied with the Air Force's response -- it agreed to clarify the way it calculated the helicopters' costs, but did not recalculate them -- the losers protested again last month.

The GAO plans to rule on the second protests in August or September.

In picking Boeing's HH-47 helicopter, the Air Force did not fairly account for the lower operational and maintenance costs of Sikorsky and Lockheed's much smaller entries, the HH-92 and the US-101, the companies argue.

In the document released Thursday -- a formal letter of protest submitted to the government last month -- Sikorsky says the Air Force violated aspects of federal contracting and purchasing rules by failing to evaluate the competing helicopters' individual costs, using generic cost estimates instead, for example, Sikorsky said.

"Despite its obligation under applicable law and the recommendations of the GAO ... the Air Force once again unreasonably has disregarded numerous categories of platform-specific cost savings associated with Sikorsky's proposed aircraft," Sikorsky's lawyers wrote.

Air Force officials could not be reached for comment Friday.

Spokesman Paul Jackson said Sikorsky decided to release the document because "the media, the public has a right to follow this. There's a lot of taxpayer money at stake here. We feel we have legitimate arguments."

Sikorsky, a Stratford-based unit of United Technologies Corp., has yet to sell the HH-92 to the U.S. military. The ship is a military version of Sikorsky's S-92.

Making such a sale would help recoup development costs and perhaps increase orders from foreign customers, defense analysts say.

So far, 38 S-92s are in service worldwide, Jackson said. Twelve others are nearing completion, he said. Canada is now the only customer for the military version. Its helicopters, 28 in all, are due in 2009.

Despite Sikorsky's request for reimbursement, the company suggested that it is prepared to fight on. Its latest protest seeks numerous documents related to the Air Force's decision-making process.

Additional protests are possible, too, according to the GAO. And Sikorsky could also take its case to the Court of Federal Claims, which adjudicates government contract disputes.